How Very Far Apart We Are
by KreativeKristine
Summary: It's Bj and Peg's anniversary, and they take comfort in knowing they will be together again one day.


Author's note and disclaimer:

Author's note and disclaimer:Sadly, I do not own BJ and Peg Hunnicutt from MASH, nor do I claim rights to Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram's hit love song, Somewhere Out There. I was inspired by Dana Katherine's latest song fics and my love for the above mentioned song. I hope you enjoy this little one shot.

How Very Far Apart We Are

It just didn't seem fair. There he was trapped in Uijeongbu extracting shrapnel from soldiers and by-standing civilians, stitching people together like they were fabric in a dressmaker's shop, and occasionally performing an arm or leg amputation. Homesickness often plagued Captain BJ Hunnicutt; however it was increased one hundred fold because it was his wedding anniversary, and he was not able to celebrate it in Mill Valley, California with his cherished wife, Peg.

After catching a glance of the framed photo of his little family, BJ brushed a single tear away from his face with one finger and rose off his bunk. Because his tent mates were sound asleep and Colonel Sherman T. Potter was handling the overnight shift in post-op, he knew he had the time to place an international phone call to the one he loved with all his heart. Not wanting to disturb a snoozing Radar O'Reilly, he settled at the switchboard and turned the phone's crank.

"Hello, Sparky, this is BJ Hunnicutt. Wouldja please place a call to Mill Valley, California?" He patiently waited through a series of pops and clicks before the sizzling static and purring telephone rings could be heard. At last, a sweet sounding female voice answered. "Hello, Peg!" he shouted over the interference. "Happy anniversary, honey!"

"Happy anniversary, my darling," Peg Hunnicutt chirped gleefully as soon as she heard her beloved husband's voice crackling to life in her ear. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, sweetheart; I'm always thinking about you," the surgeon sighed. "You're always on my mind, especially at night."

Somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight

Someone's thinking of me and loving me tonight

"Oh, BJ, I pray for you every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to bed. Sometimes it really scares me knowing you're so close to the front lines."

"Peggy, I'm all right; obviously your prayers are working."

"I can't wait for you to come home, BJ."

"Neither can I, but this can't last forever. They have to send me home sometime." The doctor attempted to comfort his spouse despite his own doubts he would leave Korea any time soon.

Somewhere out there someone's saying a prayer

That we'll find one another in that big somewhere out there

"I think of you every night when I get ready for bed," Peg and I can't help thinking that we could be looking up at the same stars at almost the same time."

And even though I know how very far apart we are

It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star

"Oh, BJ, I do the same thing too. Even though we're sixteen or seventeen hours apart, it makes me feel so much better knowing we're both sleeping under the same stars and waking up to the same rising sun. It makes the world seem a little bit smaller."

And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby

It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky

"Someday, Peg, I promise I'm gonna come home to you and Erin, and no one will ever take me away again. Erin will have her daddy back, and we can try to make her a big sister. And, at the risk of sounding like a fairy tale, we will live happily ever after."

"Sir, your time limit for this call is up," Sparky politely interrupted, not wanting to spoil the moment, while realizing that an abrupt disconnection would be far more painful for the couple who was forced apart on their special day.

"I love you, Peggy."

"I love you too, BJ."

The Hunnicutts exchanged kisses over the phone before the static was supplanted by a terrible silence. With tears in his _cerulean blue eyes, he rested the receiver back into its proper place and slowly exited the front office._

Somewhere out there if love can see us through

Then we'll be together somewhere out there

Out where dreams come true

With nothing else to do, BJ crossed the compound, relieved himself, and stopped to look up at the sparkling stars that hung overhead like a million spangles that brightened up an otherwise dreary, black sky. The sun had just set an hour ago in Mill Valley, and those same stars were hovering over Peg, watching over her as they were watching over him.

And even though I know how very far apart we are

It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star

The Californian physician stood admiring the stars until his heavy eyes began to slide shut. He slowly made his way back to the tent his roommate, Hawkeye Pierce, named The Swamp and slumped onto his bunk as soon as he reached his corner of the canvas casa. Pulling his itchy Army blanket to his chin, he lay listening to the wind, knowing that the same sky that covered his camp was the same one that floated above Mill Valley and his dearly missed Peg and Erin.

And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby

It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky

Before he drifted off to sleep, BJ turned his head and caught the moonbeams glinting off the picture that reminded him that he had something to strive for – that happy homecoming he promised to Peggy.

"I'm coming home to you one day, Peg … count on it," he sighed before sleep finally overtook him for the next six hours.

Somewhere out there if love can see us through

Then we'll be together somewhere out there

Out where dreams come true

Although it seemed like an eternity to BJ, his time spent in Korea did come to an end in the summer of 1953. When his plane finally touched down at the San Francisco Airport, he knew his reunion with Peg and Erin was only minutes away, and he couldn't reason with the butterflies of excitement that fluttered in his stomach. He claimed his bags and strolled through the airport, in search of his family when two voices suddenly cut through the din of the crowd's overlapping murmurs.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Two-year-old Erin Hunnicutt dashed ahead of her mother wanting to leap into the arms of the gentleman whom she had only seen within the confines of picture frames.

"Erin, is that you, sweetie?" BJ laughed as he dropped his bags and caught his perky toddler in his strong arms.

"Daddy!" Erin cheered before planting a wet apple juice flavored kiss on her father's cheek.

"BJ! Welcome home, my darling!" Peg ran up to her husband and flung her arms around him, planting a kiss that left a pink lipstick mark on BJ's other cheek.

"I missed you too," BJ choked his words out, tears glistening in his sapphire eyes. His determination and love for his family had finally paid off after a time period that seemed immeasurable, and he was now reunited with them and reveled at the fact that he would never have to be torn from them again. After two agonizing years, Dr. BJ Hunnicutt was finally home!


End file.
